MPA Safer London Panel gets down to work

46/04
28 Jun 2004

The Metropolitan Police Authority is launching its newly created Safer London Panel, a citizens panel made up of approximately 3000 Londoners who have been chosen to reflect the demographic make up of the city.

Representatives from the panel will be holding their first consultative meeting on Tuesday 29 June at 10.00am at 10 Dean Farrar Street London SW1.

The purpose of the panel is to contribute to consultation and engagement processes, acting as a sounding board for London’s policing policies. Members will have the opportunity to find out more from the MPA and Metropolitan Police Service about new initiatives and future progress towards good policing of London.

Richard Barnes, MPA acting chair, who will be opening the meeting, said:

“The Safer London Panel is a very positive development in our commitment to consult Londoners about how their capital is policed and in that way increase community confidence and trust in our police.

“At our first meeting we will discuss key priorities for future policing and ways in which we can report back to communities how we are progressing to ensure public understanding and support.

“We will hold regular consultations and conduct surveys with members of this group to ensure that we maintain an efficient and effective police service and one that truly reflects the diverse communities in our capital.

”The MPA’s Safer London Panel will allow a truly representative cross section of Londoners for the first time to talk directly and regularly to the people responsible for policing their neighbourhoods and our streets.”

Notes to editors

1. Press are invited to attend the opening speech by Richard Barnes, acting chair of the MPA

2. In order to “obtain the views of the public about policing” in London, the MPA requested proposals for the establishment and operation of a pan London Citizens Panel.

OPM (Office for Public Management) were successful in their bid to establish a pan- London citizens panel.

The panel has been established to:

• · Provide quick time responses of public perceptions to particular and time sensitive police issues
• · Help the MPA understand better the policing needs of Londoners and the problems they experience
• · Assess Londoners knowledge about police services and the extent to which people know what is available and how to access it
• · Assist in ensuring policing services are designed to meet public needs and priorities
• · Identify public priorities for police spending
• · Monitor satisfaction and perceptions of police performance across the total population and with particular sub-groups as a means of identifying sources of dissatisfaction and measures of service improvement
• · Identify who uses police services and reasons for non-use
• · Help set police services standards and evaluate specific police initiatives

The Panel is being recruited and will consist of 3000 citizens and will reflect London’s demographic data, and will be large enough to ensure statistically valid representative samples by

• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Disability
• Geographical area (North / South / East / West)

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